How Many Meals Can You Make from ONE Chicken?

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How far can your stretch one chicken? Can you make it last for five meals? More?

Well, obviously it depends on the number of people in your family and the size of their appetites but here are a few ideas on how to make your chicken purchase last as long as possible.

Whole Chicken

Get a nice sized chicken, like 5 to 6 pounds. Start off by cooking the chicken. You can coat it with a drizzle of olive oil and rub it down with salt and pepper. Toss it in the crockpot for the day. Then, remove the chicken from the crockpot and remove the meat from the bones. Shred or chop up the meat. Place it in one cup bags for casseroles, green salads, soups, quesadillas or pita sandwiches (mixed with black beans or chickpeas), chicken salad, baked potatoes (tossed with BBQ sauce is delicious!) and more. The key is to limit the amount of meat you use in each recipe. Supplement with beans, eggs, cheese or vegetables.

Don’t toss those bones in the trash yet! After you remove the meat from the bones, place the bones into a fresh pot of water, add carrots, onions, celery, salt and pepper, (your stock bag is perfect for this) and boil it down to make stock. When it is reduced by about half, allow it to cool, skim off the fat and freeze it into 2-cup portions or in ice cube trays.

Need more ideas? Check out how Heavenly Homemakers fed a family of six off one chicken for almost an entire week!

10 Pound Bag of Leg Quarters

I can get a 10-pound bag of leg quarters for $0.50 a pound. While it can be a yucky, drippy mess, there are a ton of ways you can stretch it out into several meals. Last time, I pulled out enough for one meal of roasted chicken and then boiled the rest with enough salt to float an ocean liner. Of course, just like I recommended above, I removed the meat from the bones and froze it into individual bags for casseroles. Then, I made stock. Fresh chicken stock, ready to go!

I have also been known to cook the entire bag at one time, making enough for four meals in just one hour.

One Bag of Chicken Breast Portions

Again, boiling and using the chicken in casseroles and such is the most economical approach but you have some other options too. Take two chicken breasts and cook in barbecue sauce in the crockpot. Shred it to make four sandwiches or topping for six green salads. Take two more and simmer them in enchilada sauce until fork tender. Then shred it for taquitos. For the rest, grill it and chop it for salads or slice it thin for some for fajitas to be supplemented with sauteed vegetables.